Arts & Life

11:23 am

Fri April 26, 2013

Listeners Tweet Flowers And Fruitfulness

And next, the latest in our series, Muses and Metaphor. We're celebrating National Poetry Month by hearing your tweet poems. Today's first poem is from artist and writer Susan Crane of Longmont, Colorado. Here she is.

SUSAN CRANE: My mother always loved lilacs, and they are my favorite flowers, as well. She said she loved them best because they were with us so briefly each year. My mother was with us briefly, too, dying very young. Each year, as the lilacs start to bloom, I think of her and hope that somehow, somewhere, she's thinking of us, too.

HEADLEE: And now here's her poem.

CRANE: Tonight, I make love to the lilacs, blossoms warm from afternoon sun, wishing you could see how beautiful we look without you.

HEADLEE: A poetic tweet by Susan Crane. Our second poem is about poetry itself, from Phil Boiarski of Galloway, Ohio. He says he spent the last 30 years working every sort of job to support his family, and recently retired to write full time. Here's his tweet poem.

HEADLEE: Those were poetic tweets by Susan Crane and Phil Boiarski. We also want to hear from you as we celebrate National Poetry Month. Tweet us your original poetry - fewer than 140 characters, remember - and use the hashtag #TMMPoetry. If your poem is chosen, we'll help you record it for us, and we'll air it in the program this month. You can learn more at the TELL ME MORE website. Go to NPR.org/TellMeMore. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.